I have experienced two surgeries on the last two
successive Thursdays, with the result I have not had energy for blogging, so I
will try to catch up now. Fortunately, despite all the drama, only three things
of interest to me have occurred over these two weeks, two of them quite
recently.

Covid-19: This
is bad stuff, enigmatic still and perhaps of high lethality compared to
previous viruses. Not to mention threatening to devastate the global economy.

Interestingly, it is the first crisis (a much over
used word) that President Trump has had to deal with that is global and beyond
his control. I am not optimistic that his handling of the coronavirus will be
effective, but I am hopeful that it will be lethal to him politically.

So far, Trump has tried to treat this issue as he
would any other, with lies and ignorance. And, of course, calling it a hoax and
a political stunt by democrats. I think the facts are a little too obvious for
him to get away with this dodge with Covid-19. It’s been in all the papers. Of
course, he does have Pence praying over it.

Trump has two problems, well, maybe three. First, he’s
criminally ignorant, second, he has rid his administration of technical experts,
of science in general, really, and third he lies so pathologically that nobody
believes a thing he says anymore except his rabid base. Wash your hands.

Taliban: When
these religious fanatics first began taking over Afghanistan, I was appalled.
They are a barbaric, hidebound sect and a disgrace to civilized humanity.

Then, I had two realizations. First, the conflict is a
religious civil war, and such wars cannot be resolved from the outside. Second,
and this is sad but true, many Afghanistan citizens are content with this type
of religious fanaticism.

Based on these realizations, I knew that we had no
business there and needed to get out ASAP. That was about 15 years ago. With
the agreement signed between the Taliban and us (not the Afghanistan
government, if there really is such a thing), apparently, we will be leaving
over the next 14 months.

Make no mistake, this is a complete and utter defeat.
The Taliban will take over this country as soon as we are gone. The shame is
this should have happened years ago. Not to do so was, in my view, President
Obama’s second biggest mistake as president.

South Carolina: Former
Vice President Joe Biden won the primary, and by which probably reduced the
Democratic competition into a two-horse race, but nothing can be hypothesized intelligently
until after Super Tuesday on March 3.

While I am delighted that the black vote, an important
Democratic constituency, turned out in South Carolina, I have never put much
stock in this state as a predictor of Democratic fortunes. The fact is none of
these rural, hidebound Southern states are going to vote for a Democratic
presidential candidate in the foreseeable future. They are red as a beefsteak
tomato, so what do their primaries really matter for Democrats?

Show me one break in this pattern – oh, please let it
be Texas, or even Georgia – and I’ll change my opinion, but not before.

Worst State: The
worst state cup goes hands down to Kansas this week, because of its favorite
son and pompous pig part, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, presumably our government
official most engaged with world affairs, who would not even deny Trump’s assertion
that Covid-19 is a hoax. These are the
kinds of ass kissing incompetents with which our government is infused by the
Trump administration.